Jérôme Fillol, the Stade Français scrum-half who spat in the face of Peter Stringer during the Amlin Cup victory at Bath, has been banned for 14 weeks despite suggestions from the International Rugby Board that he should be punished to the full extent of the law – in this case, up to a year.

On Thursday, after a hearing in Dublin, European Rugby Cup Ltd's independent judicial officer, Anthony Davis, said he had considered 26 weeks appropriate but had reduced it because of the "genuine remorse expressed by the player at the hearing, as well as his exemplary record and strong character references".

Fillol sent Stringer a letter of apology after the incident. His suspension takes into account the closed season and will therefore run for four weeks after the summer break in France, but whether it will please the IRB is debatable.

Its chief executive, Brett Gosper, had tweeted: "Spitting on Stringer should be punished to the full extent of the law."

Leicester's director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, has been told that no action will be taken against the Toulon lock Bakkies Botha after the incident on Sunday that left the Tigers prop Marcos Ayerza with a broken collarbone.

"It's a pretty disgraceful decision not to at least have a hearing," said Cockerill. "The citing officer put it forward and the gatekeeper from ERC disciplinary has decided it is not worthy. From the footage we have seen and the footage we sent to the ERC we felt it was an illegal act, jumping into the tackle."

Wales have confirmed that they will play Argentina, South Africa and a tier-two nation in November.